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Tim McFerran – CEO at World Skateboarding Grand Prix

Tim
McFerran is a CEO with a purpose. A former college basketball player, Tim got
his start in the skateboarding industry by being presented with the opportunity to run a skateboard camp by the Maloofs, however, he had a larger vision which turned into the Maloof Money Cup skate contest, where he served as the Vice President. From there, due to his sincere desire to
help others, the World Skateboarding Grand Prix and World Skateboarding
Federation were created. In an effort to support youth around the world, the organization
brings skateboarding, skate parks, skate contents, and tourism to countries
that aren’t necessarily the prime location for skateboarding.

Tim
gives us the rundown on the goals of World Skateboarding Grand Prix and World
Skateboarding Federation and how the company and organization support skateboarding,
youth, and the economy.

How did you learn about skateboarding? What
has skateboarding taught you?

You can
hand a kid a skateboard and they don’t need a coach, practice facility, they just
need a skateboard. With just a skateboard you can sometime make a living for
yourself. There are thousands of kids out in the world with a skateboard that
we have handed out, some our very good and competing in contests, some are
making a good living today and others are having fun with it. That is the real
reward for me.

How did your involvement with Maloof Money
Cup prepare you to create the World Skateboarding Grand Prix?

When I
did my research, created a plan, and presented my concept, the family allowed
me to use my personal research and collaborations with industry people to build
the greatest contest in the world at that time. I had the freedom to work with
skateboarders to develop and fine tune a concept to take globally.

Now I’m on to the next chapter and under World Skateboarding we are able to
focus not only on holding great contests, but in creating legacy and
sustainability to help build up the local communities and support youth
year-round. We bring exposure to part of the world that have never been exposed
to all of the positive that skateboarding can do. Look what’s happened to
skateboarding in South Africa. When I touched down in Kimberley [South Africa]
I could not find one skateboarder, and believe me I looked everywhere, yet we
decided to do a contest for the community and it had positive affects well
beyond skateboarding. The KDC [Kimberly Diamond Cup] event that we developed is
the number one tourist attraction in the city for the whole year.

Last
year, more than 100,000 people visited the skate park, all the hotels are full,
flights are sold out, business are hiring people to help with the workload. This
is a community that needs something positive to happen and we are providing
that. We create great partnerships with our communities and government because
we help youth and build positives. But most importantly, the social impact
studies that have been conducted show amazing results with youth in that
community and all over the country of South Africa.We are in the process of replicating this
with other countries.

Why was creating the World Skateboarding
Grand Prix special to you? What is the main goal for World Skateboarding Grand
Prix?

Everything
we have done in skateboarding is special to me because it is built on helping
those less fortunate and then bringing the greatest contest in the world to
their city. Today South Africa is a great model on what can be done if people
work together to do the right thing. When you think of skateboarding you
typically think of southern California, but there are more skateboarding
activities in South Africa today then are in southern California. The industry
started in South Africa with virtually no skateboarding brand support. Now look
at it, it’s skyrocketing in growth.

We
decided to do the world championships because skateboarding does not have one,
where the top skateboarders from around the world can compete. The top contests
in the US like X-Games, Dew Tour and Street League are all closed contests with
specific invites to certain athletes and not everyone has an opportunity to
compete. The Skateboarding World championships are the only “big” contest to
include an open qualifier, that’s why we expect to have over 50 countries
competing for the biggest prize purse in skateboarding this October. By opening
it up to the best skateboarders, we not only get the best skateboarders from
the US, but we get the best talent from around the world as well. Opportunities
like the World Skateboarding Championships give these skaters from other
countries the chance to get global exposure, to bring attention to their home
country and help build skateboarding there, and it also gives them a platform
to compete alongside the best.

How do you use World Skateboarding Grand Prix
to educate about skateboarding?

Using
skateboarding to help the underprivileged is in our DNA.You learn so much from skateboarding that
allows youth to develop. Skateboarding teaches you to get up when you fall, it
teaches you to take risks, and you fail more than you succeed and that develops
a strong drive to succeed and lastly it teaches you to be entrepreneurial.

What is the World Skateboarding Federation?

WSF was
formed to help build better skate parks, to support skateboarding growth around
the world, to provide mentoring services to anyone that needs it and to help
skateboarders expand beyond their borders. In all other sports the US athletes
are usually privately funded and in every other country they are funded by
government. Until WSF, skateboarding has not been considered a sport by any
country so there are no funds to support it.

In
order to receive government funds to help skateboarding in their countries,
skateboarding needs to be organized, it needs to have a board of directors etc,
needs to be nonprofit, and needs to be recognized by an international governing
body. That is where WSF comes in. We provide that international entity that
will help the countries to get organized.

I know
there is an element of skateboarding purists that live in southern California
that are against any formal organization, but outside the US there are skate
parks being funded and built by governments who have no experience in building
them, no community involvement, and no one to make sure they spend the money
wisely and build it correctly. WSF offers support by reaching out to the skate
community and getting them involved in the design and construction. We also
lend our own time and money to make sure the parks are done right, WSF is
working on 5 skate parks today to make sure that they are built correctly and
with the involvement of the local skateboarding community.

WSF
also works with the skateboarders to provide funding for travel to top
contests. Many skateboarders around the world who are very good but no one
knows who they are and we believe that they should have a chance to go to top
international contests, so we are funding a great many skateboarders to go. Last
year, we funded around 20 skaters from around the world to pay for their travel
to get to the Skateboarding World Championships. This year, we expect to fund
over 50 skaters.

Why did the World Skateboarding Federation
choose Kimberly, South Africa as the destination to build a skate park and
mentoring program?

The
local government wanted an activity and event that would support their own
youth initiatives and we were the ones that could help. The Kimberley model in
partnership with the local government is a shining example of what good can
come to a community when people have the right motives. It’s been an amazing 4
years and very rewarding as there are thousands of positive stories coming from
South Africa.Skateboarders from South
Africa are now getting paid to skateboard, they are traveling around the world
and business are growing.

How does hosting skateboarding events
globally benefit the cities that are chosen for the contests?

We have
solid data from economic impact studies and social impact studies in South
Africa, and both continue to come back very positive. Some statistics from the
study: people stay an average of 4 nights in Kimberley for the event, they eat
out, they buy gas, groceries, the hotels are all sold out, and the airlines
have added new flights. Businesses hire extra staff. The perception from the
community is that 90% feel the positives of the event, that’s an incredible
percentage. We have built-in legacy and sustainability programs into our
contests, not very many other sporting events can say that. This skate park is
the only sports facility I am aware of anywhere in the world that is open every
day, free, to anyone and has two full-time support staff to help anyone who
wants to learn how to skate.

How can youth benefit from these skate
contests?

It’s not the contests that benefit the youth
the most, it’s the Skateboarding for Hope Tour that travels year-round and makes
stops in rural communities and cities around the country, it’s the pro tours
that do demonstrations and sign autographs and hang out with the youth, it’s
daily planned activities at the skate parks, it’s the clinics all culminating in
the biggest skateboarding contest in the world, where they get to see their
heroes up close. It all works together to create true change in these communities. Our goal is to emulate this program in
countries all over the world.